MOUNTAIN rescuers last night warned of the perils Welsh peaks pose in winter after two brothers tempted onto Snowdon in bright conditions fell almost 1,000ft to their deaths.

The bodies of the two climbers, named last night as James McCallion, 35, and his brother Christopher, 30, were recovered from the mountain’s Clogwyn Coch yesterday after rescue crews and the RAF were alerted.

James, of Weston-super-Mare and his brother Christopher, of Bristol, were on a walking holiday in North Wales. Their family was told of their deaths yesterday afternoon.

Ian Henderson, from Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team, said snowfall on the mountain meant conditions were treacherous.

“This is a tragedy and our first thoughts are with the family of the brothers, this is a very sad case for the rescue team,” he said.

“This ridge would have been dangerous because of the deposits of snow which would have covered the path and train line. It may have looked liked a gentle slope but once someone slips they can slide quickly over the snow and gradually build up speed. This then leads over Clogwyn Coch and a drop of more than 200m. This is one theory we are looking at.”

In those conditions, anyone who hasn’t got ice axes or isn’t wearing crampons is at great risk.

The brothers had arrived in Snowdonia on Friday and had intended climbing Snowdon. The alarm was raised by their family at around 9pm on Sunday when they failed to return home.

Dangers: next page

Rescuers said the snow-topped mountain on Sunday’s relatively sunny day may have proved an alluring prospect for climbers unaware of the dangers further up. Temperatures near the 3,560ft (1,085m) summit fell as low as -15C with a whipping wind of 70mph.

Temperatures on the mountains drop about 2C for every 1,000ft and among those caught out by the conditions at the weekend was Radio One DJ Chris Moyles. He was training on Snowdon’s icy upper slopes to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief. Moyles and a team of BBC colleagues, who were well equipped and accompanied by expert mountaineers, took seven-and-a-half hours to get off Snowdon instead of the anticipated four.

Producer Aled Jones, from Aberystwyth, who was among Moyles’ party, said they encountered a group of about 30 people dressed in nothing more than jumpers that had to be rescued.

Snowdon warden Sam Roberts, who has worked in the mountains for 35 years, said it would be a “very generous estimate” to suggest even half of the weekend’s 2,000 or so visitors were properly prepared.

The 63-year-old warden said: “I have noticed more mobile phones on the mountains than ice axes in recent years. People rely more on mobile phones than themselves. It would be a very generous estimate to say 50% of the people who go on the mountains have ice axes or anything at all to deal with the icy conditions.”